2017 Week 36: (September 3-9)

We are now in September and the kids will be starting school.  We are heading straight towards the Autumnal Equinox in just a few weeks.  There are a few sights in the sky this week that I am looking forward to.

Date	Event
September 4	Mercury Stationary
September 4	Neptune at Opposition
September 5	Neptune 0.8°N of Moon
September 6	Full Moon

Mercury will be stationary on Monday and will then head towards its best morning apparition for northern observers a few weeks later.  Neptune will be at opposition the same evening.  Unfortunately the Full Moon will destroy any attempt to get a good look at the outermost planet of our Solar System.  I am hoping in a few days after the Full Moon to try to image Neptune with my 11" SCT.  The image below is my 2016 attempt at imaging the planet.  It may look like a simple blob but it was taken with a simple smart phone through an untracked 8" reflector telescope.

Neptune

The Full Moon will be out this week, a half cycle from the eclipse of two weeks ago.  With all the smoke in the air it may appear red.  The smoke scatters most of the shorter wavelength visible light leaving just the red end of the spectrum to reach our eyes.  This is similar to the red hue of a sunset or sunrise with the atmosphere playing the role of the smoke.  Light from the sun takes a longer path through the atmosphere to our eyes when it is lower in the sky.

What else is there to see at this time of year?  Cassiopeia appears in the northeastern sky as the familiar 'W' shape.  Andromeda sits neatly below the 'W' and can be seen with the naked eye.  Saturn is still visible in the South sky.  If you are lucky you might be able to catch Jupiter follow the Sun down at sunset.  The Big Dipper asterism is in the northwest sky easily visible.  As always throughout this time of year the Summer Triangle appears right overhead.  See if you can pick out the three bright stars forming this asterism.

Keep your eyes to the sky and look for some interesting astronomy activities this month!